Improvement in railway snow-plows



2Sheets--Sheet2. J. wyAflNflLD. Railway Snow-Flows. No. 138,836.PatentedMayi3,1873.

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AM PHOTO-LITHUG/PAPHIC ca u m oswms PRocsssL UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES W. ARNOLD, OF BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY SNQW-PLOWS Specification forming part of LettersPatent No. 1 38,836, dated May 13, 1873; application filed February 27,1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES W. ARNOLD, of Boston, in the county of Suffolkand State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Snow-Plow; and Ido hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with thedrawing which accompanies and forms part of this specification, is adescription of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in theart to practice it.

The invention relates to the construction of a snow plow or clearer tobe used upon railways for the removal of obstructing snows.

In my invention I use a large wheel of sufficient width to clear a trackfor passage of a train, in the perimeter of which wheel is arranged aseries of blades or shovels extending from throats leading inward intotubes, these tubes having pistons that are driven inward and outward.The wheel is mounted upon a truck mechanism to run upon the track, andhas gudgeons turning in suitable bearings, and

' by movement of the truck-wheels or by special mechanism operated by anengine the wheel is rotated. As the blades or shovels strike the snowthey force it through the throats and the tubes become filled therewith.Then, as the movement of the wheel carries each tube of the wheel abovethe snow the pistons of said tube (which, as the tube fills, are at thecen ter thereof) are thrown outward or toward the outer ends of thetubes, and by their outward movement they eject from the tubes the snowthrown into them by the movement of the blades or shovels against thesnow. It is in this snow plow or wheel thus generally organized that myinvention primarily consists.

The drawing represents a snow-plow embodying my construction, orsufficient of such construction to enable myinvention to be clear- 1yunderstood.

Figure 1 shows the plow in side elevation. Fig. 2 is an end view of it.Fig. 3 isa plan of the wheel.

a denotes the truck or frame having wheels b for running upon the track.0 denotes the wheel, having an axle turnin g in suitable boxes. The huband perimeter of the wheel are connected by a double series of spokes,01, said perimeter being shaped as seen in Fig. 3, and at the end ofeach two opposite spokes are tubes l c, from each of which extends ablade or shovel,

f, the blade standing in front of a throat, g, leading to the tube, asseen in Fig. 1. The snow near the level of the track may be cleared by ashare, h, and back of this is an incline, i, upon which the snowispresented to the action of the wheel. As the wheel is rotated the bladesf, by an angular presentation, take up the snow and lodge it in thetubes 6, from which tubes it is thrown as follows: In each tube is apiston, k, and by any suitable mechanism the piston is drawn to theinner end of the tube, (or to the center of the tube, treating each twotubes in line as one,) before the blades emerge above the incline z'.The tubes are then filled with snow, andas they rise, by the rotativemovement of the wheel, the pistons are forced out by any suitablemechanism, thereby driving out the snow lodged in them by the action ofthe shovels, the pistons being again thrown in as the Wheel continues torotate or before they next rise above the incline z.

The pistons may be operated as follows: A cam-wire, 1, extends aroundthe wheel, and to this wire each piston is connected by a fork, m, thatstraddles the wire. The wire is stationary with relation to the truck,and it is so formed as to impart to the pistons the requisite inward andoutward movements. The pistons may, however, be operated by pressure ofsteam or compressed air, each piston having a rod extending into acylinder, which is connected to a boiler or tank by suitable pipes. Forthis purpose the axle of the wheel may be encompassed by a chambersupplied with steam or.

compressed air bya connecting-pipe, a, extending from the boiler or froma pump, 0, suitable supply and cut-01f valvular mechanism being applied,so that the steam or' compressed air will be thrown into the cylinder atthe proper times to drive the ej ecting-pistons outward, and theexhaust-passages will be opened at proper times to permit the pistons tobe thrown back. The piston of the air-pump 0 may be operated by aneccentric, p, on a shaft, q.

To drive the wheel 0 connections may be made between the truck-wheelaxles and a gear, 1', forming part of the wheel 0, and for this purposethe truck-axle :17 may carry a gear, t, meshing into and driving a gear,a, that engages with and drives a gear, c, on the shaft q, such shaftcarrying the gear 8 that drives the gear 0-; or the shaft q may havecrank-arms 3 connected by links 2 with crank-arms a on the journals ofthe wheel 0.

The truck-wheels may be driven by a special engine, b the piston-rod ofthe cylinder of such engine being connected with a crank-pin extendingfrom a wheel, 0 on the shaft 01 and this shaft, by suitable gears 0 f,shaft 9 and worm-wheels k 2*, with the truck-shaft w, the shaft q beingdriven by direct connection with the shaft 01 or by the gear connectionwith the axle w. Suitable clutch mechanism maybe connected with the gearmechanism to regulate the movements of the truck and of the wheel 0. Thewheel 0 may be made of any suitable diameter as may prove mosteffective, but will sometimes need to stand too high to permit it to rununder railroad bridges where the railroad runs under the grade of thehighway. For such roads the wheel may be made collapsible or insections, the parts of which close together. In such case the perimeterof the wheel is made flexible or with a flexible band, k so that eachspoke d and the blade carried by it may close back upon the one next toit. For this purpose the wheel is made in two parts, each having ahalf-ring, l or m upon which are gear-teeth 02 two adjacent spokes beingfastened to the ends of the opposite half-rings of each half of thewheel, and the rings passing through grooves in the sides of the otherspokes. One' half-ring is made smaller than the other, so that as theparts are closed together the half-ring I will run inside of the largerhalf-ring m The half-rings may be operated as follows: On the face ofeach or either of the two rings for one-half of the wheel gear-teeth 0may be formed,into which teeth agear-pinion meshes, said pinion beingfast on a shaft to be driven by any suitable connection with the engineor the truck, so that as the shaft is turned in one direction thehalf-rings Z m will be turned.

The half-rin gs m also have gear-teeth x on their inner edges, intowhich teeth mesh pinions 8 that also engage with similar teeth a on theother half-ring l and as the rings m are turned to carry them down thehalf-rings b will also be drawn down in the opposite direction, therebyclosing the two sets, the spokes coming together as the half-rings falland the flexible band doubling or folding between the spokes. With sucharrangement some other means than the cam-wire I will be used foroperating the pistons to clear the tubes. The pistons k are faced withleather or other suitable material, to prevent adhesion of snow thereto.

I claim- 1. In combination with a car-truck, the wheel 0 made withblades f, tubes 0, and throats or openings g, substantially asdescribed.

2. In combination with the tubes, the ejectorpistons k, substantially asdescribed.

3. In combination with the wheel 0, tubes 6, and pistons 70, thecam-wire for operating the pistons.

4. In combination with the wheel, tubes, and pistons, the steam orcompressed-air tube 0, substantially as described.

5. In combination with the tube, the pump 0 having a piston operated byan eccentric, p, on the shaft q, substantially as shown and described.

6. For driving the wheel 0, the cranks a y, connecting-rod z, shaft q,and the gears '22 a t, for connecting the shaft q with the truck-wheelaxle.

7. The combination of the engine b shaft 01 gears c f and shaft g foroperating the truck-axle, substantially as described.

8. The construction of the wheel with a collapsible series oftube-supporting spokes and a flexible band, 70 and the combinationtherewith of the movable half-rings l m for opening and closing thewheel, all substantially as described.

JAMES W. ARNOLD. Witnesses:

FRANcIs GOULD, M. W. FROTHINGHAM.

